


Free As The Wind

by Chef_Geekier



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-19 23:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9465473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chef_Geekier/pseuds/Chef_Geekier
Summary: “I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us.”Nori's summary of the goblins capturing the company doesn't sit well with Thorin. The two have a talk about the difference between arrest and capture, and what confinement means for a dwarf used to wandering with the wind.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was replaying Lego Hobbit and that sentence jumped out at me, and at first I thought it was funny. Nori just being glib and not taking things seriously. Then I thought some more, and wondered if maybe Nori didn't actually see the difference. After all, he's a thief. Prison has different connotations for him than for the rest of the group.
> 
> Decided to expand on it as part of the backstory for a friendship between Thorin and Nori in a play-by-post game I'm in (more info in end notes). I may write up the prior journey that the two shared later - I just figure that it makes sense for a wandering thief and a wandering blacksmith to meet up at some point.
> 
> Harrad is roughly the Middle Earth equivalent of the Middle East, so Nori's mention of their punishments is quite likely.

“I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us.”

It struck Thorin as an odd turn of phrase immediately, but there were other things to worry about. Missing burglars and worried wizards and damned orcs and eagles and a host who was apparently a bear. There wasn't much time to actually corner Nori and talk to him. Not that it was easy to corner Nori on a good day. The dwarf was the best Thorin had ever seen at disappearing – and in a pinch, his brothers would run interference without actually getting themselves in trouble, as Dwalin had found to his consternation many times.

By the time Thorin actually found time and opportunity to talk to the thief, they were on the outskirts of Mirkwood. They'd decided to set up camp for the night before entering in the morning. None of the company were particularly happy but Nori seemed even jumpier than the others. So maybe a distraction would be a good thing. Thorin found where Nori was sitting a little way from the fire and sat next to him, gathering his thoughts.

“Evening, Highness.” Nori greeted him. While Thorin didn't insist on formalities amongst the company, when Nori called him that he rendered it an endearment rather than a title. It reminded Thorin of another journey years ago, when he had first met Nori. He hoped that journey had made Nori more willing to sign up on this quest, though he knew that Ori and Dori were the deciding factors.

“When we escaped the tunnels,” Thorin jumped right to what he wanted to know, not bothering with the pleasantries, “you said something odd. About how the goblins had collared us.”

“Yeah? Guess I did,” Nori shrugged. His fingers twitched towards his chest, and Thorin was pretty sure that there used to be pipeweed stashed in a pocket there.

“You know it isn't the same, right? We were captured. We weren't arrested.” That was what had been bothering him, the colloquialism for being arrested.

“Same thing,” Nori waved a hand dismissively. “You get caught, you get thrown in irons, you might get the shit kicked out of you.”

“Dwarf guards and goblins are different,” Thorin frowned. “They would have tortured us. That wouldn't happen in a dwarf prison.”

“Hm,” Nori hummed in a way that made Thorin's muscles tense. “You've clearly never been to Harad. Penalty for stealing is cutting off the thief's hand.”

Despite knowing that Nori had two working hands, his eyes flicked down anyway to check.

“Of course that's only if you're caught,” Nori's shark grin flashed across his face. “Still. Being captured by the enemy, being put in prison, it's all the same for my kind.”

“No, they're two different things,” Thorin tried to argue only to have Nori pat him on the head. Thorin jerked back glaring, but of course that didn't dissuade Nori.

“You're cute when you're naïve.”

“I am not cute.”

“Adorable.”

“Or that!”

Nori laughed, and Thorin glowered. There were a few glances from the main camp – Nori's genuine laugh wasn't exactly common – but no one seemed interested in interfering.

“Anyway,” Nori continued, “think about it from my view for a minute. Whether captured by enemies or thrown in a cell, I'm immobilised with no hope of being freed. I've escaped jails in every kingdom, but I've never been released. Every time I'm caught I think it'll be the last time I see the outside world. So far I've been lucky. But one day I won't be able to pick or flirt my way out, and that'll be it for me. I'll wither away pretty quick, even in a good prison.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don't do well when I can't see the sky and feel the wind. Dori and Ori, they're good mountain-born dwarfs. They can stay confined if they need to, can wait. But I was born in the camps, I was born wandering. Movement keeps me alive. If I stop, I'll go crazy.”

They sat together in silence for a while. Thorin knew that this had to have been weighing on Nori's mind – he usually wouldn't give so much of himself away to someone not his brother. As the last of the light faded from the sky, Nori sighed and stood, brushing himself off.

“Come on, Highness. At least once this quest is done, I won't have to worry about being arrested again.”

“Will you be able to live in one place?” Thorin asked, voice soft so that it wouldn't carry back to the others.

“I really don't know. But I can't wait to find out.”

Nodding, Thorin stood and they ambled back together. He wasn't sure if he'd really gotten a clear answer, but he'd gotten more information than Nori usually gave out. Thorin would consider that a gift. In return, he'd do his best to ensure that Nori didn't see the inside of a cell again.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh Thorin, making promises you really can't keep here.
> 
> Play by post game is [Second Singing. ](http://songofthemistymountains.b1.jcink.com/index.php?act=idx)Think Tolkien characters in a Once Upon A Time situation - and we need more players! I'm Nori (Eleanor), Thorin (Connor) and Frodo (Lucas). We have Bilbo, Fili and Kili (amongst others), but I'd love Dwalin, Dori, Ori, Sam, and all the rest of the company. Come play with us! I'm often hanging out in the chatbox if there are questions, and the mods are very friendly.


End file.
